The Clean Death of Us All - SMACX AI Growth mod version 1.52

[bvanevery]

Details controlling a cult

controlling a cult

Ark of the Edicts is the easiest thing to dispossess Cha Dawn of.  For some reason he thought he had 84 years to produce an Empath Chrono Shock Troops prototype.  Even if all of Planet turns against me, it's not gonna take 84 years...

Details useful little scooters

useful little scooters

Since the R-Bolt on a gravship could in principle fry something a lot bigger, we don't waste one on a walk-in.  Instead another Marine speeder does garrison duty.  How do you feel about that, Cha?

Details spank the baby

spank the baby

Any time you want to contribute territory to your Comrades.  Any time.  Cha insults me again.  Look I only need a Truce to hold for the rest of the year.  It's either enough, or it isn't.  I sign off.

Details spread of industry

spread of industry

We've had a couple mindworm bursts.  They could use some killing.  This is completely trivial, as we have extensive Empath R-Bolt Hovertanks for home defense.  A single such unit takes out 2 of the stacks without even taking a wound.  We probably made a good amount of money on that, but who's counting anymore?

[bvanevery]

Details desire to kick him out

desire to kick him out

Morgan has several bases in his distant hinterlands, that are only defended by 1 or 2 mindworms.  These would be very easy to take from him, if the point is to get his attention.  But I would very much like to have this base.  It was one of the most colossally irritating things, him muscling in on my developed home waters.  And we were either at peace or allies at the time, so there was nothing I was prepared to do about it.  A war with him never came, until MY 2393 and my Infamy.

Details convenience

convenience

I've come up with an elaborate and kludgy transport plan, since my ships are out of position.  I could commit all manner of suicidal Marines to the enterprise, but this is easier.  My people don't like Conventional Missiles any better than gravships, so stockpiling them is not in my best interest.  Better to fire the last one off, even if it deprives me of a longer reach capability.  I think this is probably the only fighting left this year.  And if there is a next year, I can have more CMs where these came from.

Details aqueousness

aqueousness

I send a transport from U.N. Ocean Authority to U.N. Planetary Trust.  It picks up the rest of the Marine Speeders, an R-Bolt Artillery Speeder, and a couple of future garrison units.  The transport sails back to U.N. Ocean Authority as best it can, stopping in mid-ocean.

Details pickup

pickup

I send a transport from Sealurk City to the mid-ocean spot.  By clicking on each unit and hitting "L", they will load onto the transport that still has moves left!  This trick can be used with an infinite number of transports.  Even units that have moved already, can be transferred in this way.

Details small mistake

small mistake

I move 1 square north.  The artillery disembarks and then shells the base.  I forgot they had a spore launcher.  I should have brought 2 artillery pieces.  It is still 3 to 1 against the Isle though, and I do have the Dream Twister.

Details waters cleared

waters cleared

The battle was easy.  After taking the base, I use my last transport move to bring it into port.  The garrison units take up permanent residence.

Details rub his belly

rub his belly

Morgan rolls over as usual.  I spare myself any further indignities parlaying with him.

[bvanevery]

Details I will put 2 mindworms in every pot

I will put 2 mindworms in every pot

So this is it.  If the other factions accept an Infamous leader, the game is over.  If they don't?  Let's just see the vote.

Details you gotta be kidding me

you gotta be kidding me

2 years ago, I knew this could happen.  But 2 years in real world time, was a long time ago!  Events so massive occurred, that I broke a web page with all my screenshots.  So... now we plan for Morgan and Cha Dawn to keep backstabbing me.  Maybe every year, until 2402.  I think my territory is going to look nice and neat by the end of it.

This also implies I can't propose to Increase Solar Shade.  We have to live with the sinking.

Would Conquest Victory be faster at this point?  It wouldn't be faster in terms of mouseclicks.  It would take a lot of unit pushing to rule the world.  It could be faster in terms of game time.

Well, Morgan has a number of secret projects.  Once I've neatened my borders with him, I'll be sure to deprive him of his special infrastructure.

[bvanevery]

Details the use of fungus for Good

the use of fungus for Good

We've had a Fungal Singularity Missile sitting around unused for a long time.  I think I made a very cheap reactor upgrade at one point.  I actually now have a use for it.  We're in an era where arguably, fungus is actually the best terrain.  I honestly can't ever overcome my Earthly green trees bias, so I do plant trees.  They do look better on the map.

Part of the reason for keeping a missile design around, is so the game doesn't forget your design.   It happens when the game runs out of design slots, as it will just recycle the ones for units that are not in use.  This is particularly annoying in the case of a nuke, which takes a long time to complete a prototype.  It's not so bad in the case of a Tectonic missile, which has happened. I was working on a new Tectonic missile at my Skunkworks "just in case", but now Inertial Damping armor is available.  I might as well prototype the capability, just to have it ready.

Details it looks like suicide

it looks like suicide

Where I once had hardscrabble dry flatlands, now I've instantly got 6 squares of beneficial fungus!  Of course big nasty mindworms and a small fungal tower are sitting on top of them.  But when I bought this base from Morgan, I inherited 3 tiny mindworm larvae.  That was the only garrison.  And then I cheekily dropped in my surplus of Fission Drop Trance 3-Res Garrisons, because I had them, and not much else frankly.  Not good enough to resist a conventional attack, but totally excellent against mindworms.  Even if every single one of my larvae dies, I seriously doubt the mindworms can harm me.  I mean, I am the master of both the Neural Amplifier and the Dream Twister.

Details a capture!

a capture!

Even better, I finally get something for all this +2 PLANET I've had since forever.  Unfortunately a captured fungal tower will turn right back into an indigenous enemy next year.  I don't think it's possible to move it into a land transport, aka a "truck", but I don't remember actually trying.  This doesn't come up all that often.  It might also be a source of weird "fungal simultaneous existence" bugs on the map, so I'm gonna try to disband this thing in a minute here.  First I kill or capture other stuff though.

Details just made me bigger

just made me bigger

Not a single loss.  Hardly a scratch on my worms.  In fact, this is a recruitment strategy!  I can guarantee the position of mindworms within a small area, that I know I can either capture or kill.  It farms me either recruits, or a small amount of money if unsuccessful.  With the missile range increases in my mod, I could keep walking a front of this stuff for quite some distance from my home territory.  I bet anything captured would also be Independent, if I was operating far enough away from my territory.  I've never thought of such tactics before.  I think I will make another missile, to preserve my capability!

Details there's no place like home

there's no place like home

Um, I can't get the captured fungal tower active in order to disband it.  Right clicking on it doesn't do anything.  However, it did Home itself to Xi Sector when it appeared.  I can get a right click menu in the unit support window!

Details safety first

safety first

Although it is tempting to discover what the other menu options might do to an immobile shouldn't-be-mine unit, this has been a long After Action Report.  I've already had to fire up the Scenario Editor once to fix a problem, and I don't really want to tempt fate.  However I will post about this exotic experience elsewhere in the forum, to encourage others to find out what's up.

Details what's a biological overload

what's a biological overload

Tempting as it might be to see this thing explode in a shower of spores, I'd like my own units, in and around the tower, to stay intact.  Again, something to explore some other time.  In case anyone wants to explore this now, I'm attaching a saved game.

Oh shoot.  I am big dummy!  Getting all excited typing this up, I hit Confirmed.  Of course now there's no point in the save, because there's no fungal tower.  Sorry!

[bvanevery]

Details untaggable

untaggable

I need a new 70 mineral unit, as I've got various cities that produce that, and I don't need any more R-Bolt Artillery Speeders.  What I really need are garrison units that are easy to deploy, that can hold up to some kind of attack, if not all possible attacks.  Cheaper drop units have to be Fusion reactor units.  This one might be good for preventing pillaging, as its high movement gives it a good chance of disengaging from most attackers.  It may get wounded and have to run away, it may not be able to steadfastly hold ground, but that may not really be necessary in combat practice.  And we've seen from recent battles, that lots of ground forces can take out enemy mindworms in the field, without any special equipment.  The Dream Twister is that powerful.

Details not enough punch

not enough punch

I also need a new 80 mineral unit.  Amphibious Missile Hovertanks are nice and all, but I already have a number of those, and not that many coastal bases to worry about.  This unit would be interesting if I was facing a lot of Fusion ECM stuff, but I don't think I am.  Its armament is a bit weak and the jump to Chaos is huge.  I don't think Drop Chaos Fusion anything is possible, so maybe I just can't think in terms of conventional assault units.

Details flying wonder weapon

flying wonder weapon

A mechanical mindworm that can drop?  Let's try it!  I have so little experience with psi weapons and armor.

[This may mean that this weapon is way too damn cheap in my mod.  I would need to play another game where I use it when it first comes available, to see if it's overwhelmingly powerful or not.]

Details heavy metal

heavy metal

Another way to move troops into the field, is to just accept that they can't attack right away.  Let a non-combat vehicle do the dropping, and let a non-drop unit emerge next turn.  Adding Heavy Transport would give this unit a capacity of 2, but would totally blow the budget.  It at least has the benefit of being a big chunk of armor and reactor, so whatever is carried, is unlikely to be hurt.  Might be good for eventually bringing unarmored and very expensive Black Hole Guns into combat.  Knowing that I can drop into fungus and thereby heal up the drop damage before next turn, is a good tactic with this unit.

[bvanevery]

Details wet lather rinse repeat

wet lather rinse repeat

MY 2395.  What if I have to do this every year?  I suppose it would still take less of my real world time than a Conquest victory.  But this is getting old.  Perhaps I should press the Cult to the limit of my easy industrial output.

Details ditto Morgan

ditto Morgan

Is there any threshold of stomping, at which either will calm down?  I suppose once I have enough troops in the field, I can form a wall to sweep them back.

Details defensible targets

defensible targets

I certainly don't need any of Morgan's secret projects.  The Weather Paradigm might be "nice to have" for the speedup of my Formers.  But these bases are right in the middle of Morgan's territory.  I really haven't even secured my "land islands" inside of Cultist territory yet, so I think it would just be annoying, bothering to take such cities right now.

Details missile command

missile command

Instead I'll just neaten our borders and deny him forward bases.  There might be some point at which he gives up "surprise attacking" me.  Even an AAA Singularity defender can't stand up to a modern Conventional Missile.

Details prepare to die

prepare to die

I don't really want the bother of these formerly Usurper sea bases, but I do need to pick up all the probe teams that ended up in them.  The ship will Obliterate and move on to the coastal base, to do the same.

Details not our citizens

not our citizens

I think I forgot to sell off a facility in there, in my haste writing this up.  I won't make the same mistake in the next base, as I remember it has some valuable stuff worth selling off.

Details you will not be assimilated

you will not be assimilated

The Marine speeder climbs on to the land and finds better things to do.  The Drop R-Laser hovertanks have been killing Morganic mindworms and spore launchers.

Details cranky

cranky

I accidentally meet Morgan while tending to other matters.  He wasn't persuaded by the loss of a trivial base.  He needs more of a beating somewhere.

[bvanevery]

Details well I've wanted it

well I've wanted it

This base is just out of range of my 1 remaining Conventional Missile.  Although missiles can stay in the air a long time and hit anything on Planet, it takes multiple turns to do that.  I want it now.  That means this base has to be a test of the new Psi Hovertanks.  I don't have anything else that's both drop and heavily armed.

Details looks bad

looks bad

When I designed this unit, I didn't think about 12-Res armor ruining my agenda.  Next year I might prevail, when I don't have an orbital insertion penalty.  But if I want it now, this is not a unit I'm just going to throw away.  It costs 80 minerals and a Conventional Missile only costs 60.  Makes me wonder though: what would I throw away, to be in a hurry?  Maybe nothing.  So this is not actually a good "get Morgan's attention" base.

Details close enough

close enough

Morgan Gravitonics is on the flank of my Manifold Nexus enclave, and it was within range of my CM.  Unfortunately I barely dented the defender, doing only 22% damage.  The base had an Aerospace Complex and a Sensor Array.

Details revision of plans

revision of plans

Most Morganic bases that I could easily take, are not desirable to have.  Morgan Construction is a notable exception.  It's home to both the Ascetic Virtues and the Longevity Vaccine.  Contrary to my earlier thoughts about creating more "islands" that are just hard to defend, it's actually contiguous with my existing territory.  I think I need to take and hold this region, even if it requires multiple turns.

Details blocked by a foil probe

blocked by a foil probe

I was guessing that a psi unit doesn't have any special advantage attacking a mindworm, so I should try one of the slightly cheaper high speed skirmisher units, that I have more of.  I didn't expect a 3-pulse foil probe team to be able to intervene as the defender!  That ship shouldn't even be in there since it's landlocked.  Probably went on a mission at some point and had an unfortunate return.  So the disadvantage of a skirmisher, is it's a fast unit that can be countered by low level 3-pulse armor.  Well I shouldn't have too much trouble finding something to overcome that.

Details psi ok for the brain

psi ok for the brain

It might be worth designing these units with Empath capability.  The problem is, now the mindworms are being selected as the defenders.  I don't think I made enough psi tanks to power through all 3 of them.  These are why things like Empath and R-Bolt are useful, because they change who is selected as the defender.  Granted, if I had 3 psi tanks, or more precisely 3 psi strikes where I don't die, then the probe team probably just dies and never gets to defend.  I'll check my inventory before committing some gravships, which I've realized are also in range.  Nope, 2 psi tanks is all I managed this year.

Details still kills mindworms

still kills mindworms

I guess I shouldn't have expected a probe team to just jump in front of a really big gun, just because it has Resonance on it.  It's time to just start getting the job done, whatever the wounds.  Actually that cost my gravship 50%.  Not what I'd call a stellar performance.  The psi tank took 80% wounds.  Not impressed, but hey, I did get to drop it where I wanted it.  And now the problem is, I had a gravship in range.  It wasn't plural like I thought.

Details future plan

future plan

I could have avoided half these problems if I'd had some artillery to soften the mindworms with.  A R-Bolt isn't going to do anything against 12-Res armor, but Morgan and other factions have a habit of garrisoning with a mix of conventional troops and mindworms.  I couldn't make a cost effective Singularity unit, but a Quantum version is 90 minerals.  I have a few cities producing that much, so I switch their production from Drop Transport to this.  Actually just 1 city right now.  Shouldn't oversell my capability.

Details crash harness

crash harness

I sent a Drop Transport loaded with Graviton Artillery to prepare for an assault on Kappa Sector next year.  Notice that the Drop Transport took a wound when landing, but the passenger did not.  I disembark because there's a Spore Launcher to fight in the base, and I don't know if being Loaded on a Transport would be bad.  Previously I cleared this landing space using one of the somewhat cheaper Photon Skirmishers.  It took a stiff wound blasting a mindworm, but it'll live.  The psi tank takes up position under the protection of the Drop Transport's 12-Res armor.

Details smooth move to target

smooth move to target

Belatedly I realize I actually have an R-Laser tank in theater, with plenty of moves to get to Morgan Construction and attack.  The reason I can do that job, is because of the "inferior" antigrav sled design I stopped producing awhile ago.  I must get some of these obstructing mindworms out of the way first.  The newer antigrav sled skirmishers can do that.

Details pell mell

pell mell

In fact, I can do it with the skirmisher I already landed.  It has that much movement.  Taking advantage of some fungus and the Xenoempathy Dome to find my route, I am forced to attack at 2/3rds strength.  I do prevail, although I'm knocked down to 90% wounds.  Next time I'll think about scouting and positioning more.

Details die now scum!

die now scum!

It takes a 2nd skirmisher to destroy a small mindworm and a nearly dead spore launcher, but I clear the way for my angle on the base.  It blasts the mindworm easily and the probe team dies too.  I take an additional 10% wounds, totaling 30%, which means I did well.  I'm out of moves though.  Before taking the base, I need to decide whether I want to fry other Morganic mindworms in the field.

Details Morgan Solarflex beckons

Morgan Solarflex beckons

I'm starting to feel a little bit greedy.  The city just to the north contains 3 secret projects!  I need to think about whether I have a way to overcome that 12-Res defender in a hurry.

[bvanevery]

Details take the region

take the region

Morgan has a base full of nothing but mindworms on my flank.  I easily have enough drop units to conquer that.  The rail also ends at that base, so it's a good stopping point in that direction.  I take Morgan Construction with a drop garrison that desperately needed to heal.  Since it had an Aerospace Complex, I had to drop outside its radius and walk in.  But that was no problem due to it touching fungus and the Xenoempathy Dome.  I do not talk to Morgan after the conquest, I cut him off.  I don't expect to talk to him until after I've got Morgan Solarflex, and even then, we'll see what capabilities I have remaining.  It's not like I expect him to actually honor any Truce.  It's for sake of form, wondering if there's any lower limit after which he'll stop backstabbing.

Details fresher battle

fresher battle

Taking a base gives me a place to land without taking wounds.  I still suffer the -50% orbital insertion penalty.  I'm out of new skirmisher units and it's time to call up other units.  I don't want to use Drop Trance 12-Res units on this because their defensive capability is important.  However I can spare some of the few Drop Trance 3-Res units and just spread my Drop Trance 12-Res units thinner to cover the holes.

Details they work well enough

they work well enough

Psi combat is not particularly complicated.  I've run around in various games with Scouts on rails.  No rails connecting my homeland though, so this is what must be.  Seems to be pretty good training, as my unit takes 70% wounds and goes Elite.

Details guard your perimeter

guard your perimeter

So what do I have to take out a 12-Res Singularity garrison with?  A whole lotta probe teams that are actually in range over fungus, with nothing better to do.  Unfortunately Morgan is the proud owner of the Citizens' Defense Force at Morgan Metagenics.  It makes a Perimeter Defense impossible to destroy.

[bvanevery]

Details shifting the theater

shifting the theater

Morgan Metagenics and Morgan Processing are well within range of my gravships.  They're also decently defended with AAA units.  Morgan Metagenics in particular has 2 of 'em.  I have a Wave gravship in the area, but it's 40% wounded.  The other one is way to the south.  This reminds me that I don't even have a Transport in the region.  I'm not really equipped to assault Morgan Metagenics from across the sea.  And sending 20% wounded Marines into battle after orbital insertion against Singularity units is suicide.  That base just isn't going to be taken this year.  Maybe if I sacrificed most of my gravships, but I don't think that's a good idea.

Details you're toast

you're toast

I switch to pacifying the Cult, to the extent that will ever happen.  Unlike the cities near the Morganites, here I have completed Psi gates.  I have many conventional forces I can bring through them, that were once made to deal with mindworm pops that I expected to be much worse.  I'm limited to bringing 1 unit per gate, but that's plenty for taking some of Cha Dawn's cities.

Details tougher requirements

tougher requirements

Compared to Morgan, beating up Cha Dawn is trivial.  I've already gained a Truce.  Since I'm tired of them backstabbing me every year, I've decided to up the cost of such actions for them.  If they sign a Treaty, then breaking it will cost them more of their reputation.  If they get mad and declare Vendetta despite our Truce, I don' t know if that harms their reputation or not, but I'll just take another city.  And if they're diplomatically clever, and just taunt me, it's not really any different than if I hadn't tried.

Details predictable

predictable

I expected this.  I certainly don't have to stop fighting.  I wonder if there's any threshold of loss, at which signing a Treaty would actually start to make sense to them?

Details a tale of 2 cities

a tale of 2 cities

This city does 29 eco-damage.  That's not a consideration of conquest that I expected.  The main difference between their cities and mine, is they don't have Centauri Preserves and Temples of Planet.  We repeat the "Treaty Bug" dialogue sequence.  The war continues.  My big R-Bolt hovertank is too wounded to continue.  Unfortunately I forgot that I've only completed one Psi Gate.  The rest are under construction.  I'm also out of garrison units.  Still I think it's probably best to sweep out as much as I can, because they're not going to stop attacking me anyways.

Details singular advantage

singular advantage

A wounded Wave gravship is still tough enough to take out an AAA defender when it only has a Fusion reactor.  The fight is damaging though, and I'm promoted to Elite.

[bvanevery]

Details despamification

despamification

I've started committing the Drop Marine Missile Hovertanks because I have nothing else to clean up all these mindworms with.  I've used wounded gravships to clean up some of them.  I'll use base takeovers to heal and get a bit more mileage out of them.

Details time to talk Truce

time to talk Truce

I'm out of Drop Marines and gravships.  I've done lots of damage, and have minimized the Cult's opportunities to strike back at me.  But I suspect they're going to find a way.  I try for a Treaty, which gets the usual response about what I wimp I am.  I don't belabor anything with threats, as it makes no difference.  They will surely attack again.

Details skeleton empire

skeleton empire

I'm out of Drop garrisons.  Citizens Against Progress be damned, I need some upgrades!  I'm very close to what I need, so maybe I can keep them a little bit happy.

Details overbuilt marine

overbuilt marine

This 1 unit out in the middle of the ocean, needs to go to a base I actually care about.  For that it'll need upgrading.  Unfortunately I forgot it had already moved this turn and can't accomplish the mission.

Details anti anti

anti anti

Covering with a ship, is the reasonable alternative until I get something more permanent together.

Details Morganic legacy

Morganic legacy

Nobody will miss this feeble ECM unit that Morgan gave me a long time ago.  It becomes one of the usual Drop Trance 12-Res Sentinels and goes off to do its duty.  After this unit I stop fooling around looking for small stuff, and just upgrade a whole lot of Fusion AAA Trance 3-Res designs.  It covers all the Cult problems and I have a few left over to throw at Morgan.

Details delayed genocide

delayed genocide

These 3 bases are a pain that tie up 3 gravships.  Next year I'll obliterate 2 of 'em.

[bvanevery]

Details offensive prep

offensive prep

I use a drop ship to bring 3 R-Bolt artillery pieces and 5 Empath R-Bolt hovertanks to assault Morgan Solarflex next year.  I'd like to think that's enough.  My last skirmisher destroys a Sensor Array to give more advantage.  Although I do have another drop ship, I don't actually have more offensive equipment to move around.  Drop garrisons yes, but damage doers no.  I leave my AAA R-Bolt hovertank artillery at home, in case of unexpected giant stacks of Locusts.  Those units are a little too valuable and specialized to commit to the front.

Details drop cover

drop cover

My surplus of Drop Trance 3-Res garrisons, I deploy in the field to cover wounded hovertanks.  I didn't think Cha Dawn had a chance to attack my nearly dead units before, but now, there's no possibility.  They're all on rail systems so I haven't lost any orbital insertion capability doing this.

Details mercenary cult

mercenary cult

Morgan is under Thought Control so I cannot buy his bases.  Cha Dawn, however, has a strategic vulnerability because of his ideology.  He insists vehemently on a Eudaimonic, Planet friendly future for human existence, so he cannot switch to Thought Control and gain its +3 PROBE immunity to mind control.  He also has no capitol.  Surely was one of the cities I've taken over.  I've already moved my 2 drop ships so I cannot bring any probe teams to his lands this year, but I've moved my probe team surpluses to the drop ship cities so I can jump next year.  Without interference from possibilities such as floods and broken rail lines.  Next year will be another military swipe at Cha Dawn, since I have numerous gravships and garrisons to do that with.  But once they reach their extent, perhaps the rest I'll just summarily buy out.

[bvanevery]

Details expensive conquest

expensive conquest

MY 2396.  2 spore launchers got in the way of my R-Bolt artillery.  I prevailed, and weakened the remaining mindworms with the 3rd piece, but the main armored defender took no real damage.  Consequently, I lost 2 tanks on the assault.  I completely forgot about Conventional Missiles, but they do very poorly against Singularity AAA defenders anyways.  If I want to consistently take Morganic bases without losses, I need bigger guns.  Otherwise it would be best to concentrate on weaker factions.

Details expensive pea shooter

expensive pea shooter

At Kappa Sector, my Graviton artillery did a mere 3% damage to Morgan's defender.  It's not going to put me into any bases. 

Details more likely

more likely

However a fresh psi tank, that doesn't have to drop from orbit, can open some doors.  It blows the defender to smithereens and has enough movement to take the base.  I guess this is how we're fighting Morgan.

Details land truck exploit

land truck exploit

Because of the poor performance of psi tanks in some other circumstances, I'm having cognitive dissonance about what this war is going to be like.  I anticipate needing to throw big Black Hole Gun infantry at Morgan.  I devise an expensive land drop transport to do it.  By 'expensive' I mean it'll take some base 2 turns to make, instead of 1.  The turn after it has dropped, I think the 'truck' can just carry its cargo right up to the base.  Then the transported units attack.  Pretty cheap shot really, and the AI doesn't know how to do this.  That's why there's no 'truck' predefined unit in my mod.  But here we are, pulling out every cheap trick in the book.

Details biggest boom

biggest boom

Black Hole Gun infantry and artillery is really expensive.  My 60 mineral cities could make a Conventional Missile or a Fungal Missile in 1 turn, or one of these in 4 turns.  But CMs aren't scratching anything, and I'm dubious about fungal patches ruining the terraforming around a city I'm going to take over.  Since the cost is an even multiple of 60, I might as well make a few of these for the future.  The CMs aren't doing me any good.  I also design some Singularity Infantry to try to hit different production expense points.

[bvanevery]

Details purpose of AAA artillery

purpose of AAA artillery

I shell a stack of 1 Locust and lots of Isles, simply because I can.  The Isles aren't any threat as my base hasn't sunk yet, and the Locust would just die on my Trance 3-Res armor, but I feel like demonstrating.

Details decent first hit

decent first hit

I'm surprised that the Locust didn't take any damage.  Was there more than 1?  I didn't look that carefully at the stack size.  I heard a lot of artillery pops, so it could be a size 32 stack with multiple Locusts.

Details weird

weird

Why isn't it hitting the Locust?  Oh shoot!  I designed these guns with Anti-Aircraft, which is totally stupid as they don't even have any armor.  I should have made them with Air Superiority.  Well consider this a weapons test.  Gotta work out the kinks.  In my brain.

Details corrected design

corrected design

I upgrade the 2 dumb units.  Ships can do this sort of design too.  It's a good plan when Planet turns into waterworld.  I don't think we're going to get there though.

[bvanevery]

Details cyborg stop it

cyborg stop it

Silly Aki swore a Pact with Morgan and attacked me.  I take a base to settle her down.  She signs a Truce.  While garrisoning, I notice all my home guard are AAA units with Non-Lethal Methods.  That's a complete waste under my social engineering choices, so I upgraded them all to Drop units.

Details practical application

practical application

Singularity Conventional Missiles barely put a dent in Singularity AAA defenders, but they blow Quantum defenders to smithereens.  I've stopped making CMs due to their impracticality most places, but I'm finding ways to use up the ones I made already.  I take the base with a wounded gravship.  I successfully use the "right clicking trick" to enable it to continue its movement.

Details wipe 2

wipe 2

Due to the capture of the Maritime Control Center, I have enough movement to guard the 3rd base with my ship and free up all 3 gravships.

Details shooting gallery

shooting gallery

Knowing that I may be able to buy all of Cha Dawn's cities, I send my gravships to hunt mindworms in Morganic territory.  He has a huge horde of them, rather like Cha Dawn used to have.  I eventually wore most of those out, so perhaps I can do the same to Morgan.

[bvanevery]

Details absurd cost

absurd cost

I've had so much trouble balancing the cost of base buying in my mod.  It's so overpowered in the stock game, yet, this is pretty unsatisfying.  It would only cost 289k to Corner The Energy Market!  I don't think 11k is a representative portion of the cities that are left, but maybe I'm wrong about that.  At any rate this ain't happenin'.  I'm not sure what all my probe teams are going to get used for now, but it won't be for this.

Details state of the empire

state of the empire

I've absorbed a lot of the world.  Unfortunately there is no intermediate zoom to get this better in frame.  The little blue squares are me.  I've eaten a lot of the yellow and pink bits.  Like a cancer that's metastasizing.

Did I just mindlessly quit my turn without saving my game first?  Good grief.  Morning play.  1 cup of coffee wasn't enough.  I was just so annoyed by this small map readout.  Oh good grief, now I have to do my base purchases all over again.

Details futz free financing

futz free financing

I've been meticulously taking advantage of "make partial payment" this whole game.  You have to do a small addition problem in your head, to figure out what the optimal hurrying expenditure is.  Since I was a math competitor in my youth, I just see this as keeping up a skill.  However in the face of coffee, bothering with all the UI clicking is a drag.  Since I'm fairly rich, and seemingly will never spend all my money, nor win an Economic Victory, it's time to just click through the UI in the more straightforward way, and not bother with the obsessive micromanagement.  This is the kind of decision you make when you're forced to do things over again.

This endgame is, officially, a boring drag.  I totally get why 4X gamers blow this stuff off.  The only reason I'm doing it is for the AAR.  It would really help, at this point, for someone to chime in that they're actually reading this.

This time I jolly well remember to hit Save!